A Father Figure
by felixkawaii
Summary: A collection of one-shots about Natsu and Igneel and how they met. (Actually my several attempts at the first chapter of a story I've been wanting to start but keep stopping to edit too much...) .
1. Chapter 1

It was safe to say that Igneel did not particularly care for humans. They were small and weak and killed far too easily. They paled in comparison to new born hatchlings and were useless in a fight. And, due to some rule to keep peace between the two species, he wasn't allowed to eat them either.

His life had been mainly spent ignoring or avoiding the puny things, but every year on July Seventh, he would return to a tangled forest on the edge of a human village. Thinking back on it now, the mistake that forced him to make the annual trip was a stupid one. At the time, he was a relatively young dragon who had grown bored of listening to the Elders. Naturally, Igneel had always had a rebellious streak within him but somehow when he had reached nine hundred and forty five it had erupted along with a large flow of pride – or, as Grandine called it, arrogance. One night, after battling that bastard Metallicana, he was on an all time high – having won of course – and was doing loops and zooming around the sky as you do when you're nine hundred and forty five. It had been a good fight after all.

And so, after winning the fight and flying around crazily, he'd landed in a field without checking his surroundings. He cringed at just the memory, even now. That was the first time he'd ever woken up from being stabbed by several pitchforks at once and encircled by humans all at the same time. It had been like Metallicana, Grandine and all seven Elders deciding that it would be fine to give him Chinese acupuncture first thing in the morning. He was young and startled and one of the strongest dragons Fiore had to offer, therefore it should have been no surprise that he shot out a strong barrage of flames – out of reflex entirely. It ashamed him to admit that the prodding and the humans where a genuine 'SURPRISE!' to him. In the end, he had scorched the entire field and killed several of them in the process.

The Elders had not been impressed and called a huge meeting. Igneel couldn't remember exactly what had happened during it, only that his stupid mistake had reduced him to a guard dog – or dragon – for the village. At first, he was diligent to his job. He slept and ate watching the village constantly for signs of attack, but, after staring at the place for a hundred years or so, he concluded that the place was so far out the only people he'd seen leaving were a couple of love struck teens who seemed to be skipping town and the Village Chief slipping out for a piss after teaching the younger ones how to hunt.

It had been the same dodgy Chief who had actually started leaving food on the edge of the forest. He'd woken up one morning to find a deer tied to a tree and just eaten it to fill his belly out a little. Thinking with his stomach, he hadn't bothered to sniff it first which was stupid because if he had perhaps he would have discovered that it had been coated in some poison for wild animals. Igneel shook his head as he flew, despairing at his own stupidity. The village had lasted one hundred years without an attack and the day he decided to take off to find Grandine to heal his stomach ache, was the day some stupid bandits decided to attack the town.

The dragon slowed down its pace as the accursed village entered his line of sight, it's people were nowhere to be seen, hiding indoors to 'sacrifice their sunlight' – more like cower in fear. He'd missed the last Sacrifice Day because he was now an Elder and there had been an issue with a strange man named Acnologia. It had been an eye opener to say the least. A man with so consumed with the power of a Dragon Slayer that he was on the verge of something so black and dangerous that a human with also driven by power had taken an interest in him. The dark mage, Zeref.

He swooped down, deep in thought.


	2. Chapter 2

It was safe to say that Igneel did not particularly care for humans. They were small and weak and killed far too easily. They paled in comparison to new born hatchlings and were useless in a fight. And, due to some rule to keep peace between the two species, he wasn't allowed to eat them either.

His life had been mainly spent ignoring or avoiding the puny things so when he found one on the outskirts of his territory, he wasn't entirely sure of what to make of it. The human was tiny, only the size of perhaps his left nostril – the smallest one – and sitting in its own little nest. It's big eyes were black, oddly enough and he seemed to be wrapped in cloth. But what really made the human stand out were the curly tufts of pink hair sprouting out the top of its head.

Igneel took a sniff. Did humans have hair like that?

He raised his head, elongating his neck so that he could see over the tallest trees in the forest. Whatever it was there had to be others. The wind was blowing from the north smelling a little salty and briefly, Igneel contemplated the possibility of a storm before concentrating back at the task on hand. The air around them smelled earthy, sort of gravelly and deep, but there was very little scent of humans. Usually, the acrid stench of their fear could be smelled a mile off.

He looked down at the small human, noting once more its size. How long had it been out here? It's eyes were half-closed, complexion pale and it wasn't moving.

Igneel nudged it gently with his claw. Was it dead? It made no movements and if dragons could sigh, he definitely would have. Instead, he settled for swinging his tail behind him dejectedly – demolishing half the forest like dominoes. It swished around, annoyed and frustrated. Whose stupid idea was it to leave miniature humans lying around?

Screw this! He swiped the thing - blue linen nest and all - off the ground, hooking one sharp talon through the loop in the fabric. Grandine was about to get one hell of a present!

"What's this?" The white dragon grumbled, sapphire eyes wise with age. "It's not my birthday...not that you have any idea when that is anyway."

Igneel rolled his eyes, "Living another year or two is nothing to celebrate. Why would I give you things?"

"It's human tradition. Gifts on the day of your birth to show appreciation."

"I doubt you even remember when that was," He snorted.

"Well, you're no better!"

"True."

Grandine, the Sky Dragon, eyed the bundle curiously. "Is that a human's cot?"

"A what?"

"Like a portable sunny spot to lie in."

Igneel tilted his head, checking from all angles. "There's no sun."

"No, idiot. I meant that it was like a dragon's favourite place to sleep. Human's call it a bed."

"This is a bed?"

She stomped one foot on the floor of her cave and shook her scales, "Why do I bother?"


	3. Chapter 3

The boy would be trouble. That much was plain to see. Igneel could feel it right down to his worn old bones and long tail, right from the moment he saw him. On the edge of his territory, a rope tied round its neck, wearing nothing but a pair of black shorts. The first thing that hit him was the stench of fear. The boy was thin, his ribs were visible. The dragon had pitied him, in fact, he still did.

Maybe that was what had influenced his decision.

The dragon saw the boy first, which should have been physically impossible since Igneel was the size of a building and the boy the size of his red pinky nail but the boy had had his eyes closed and was leaning against a tree. The second thing that had struck the Great Fire Dragon was the colour of the boy's hair. Pink. Sakura blossom pink. No, more of a fuchsia colour. Igneel wondered if it was human.

When the boy finally noticed him, he let out a squeak, a whimper and tried to run but there was a rope round his neck and he fell down, choking painfully. Why was it tied up like that? It spluttered around on the ground, rolling from left to right. Igneel waited for it to recover, fascinated by the small thing.

Then, it jumped up but did not run this time. Having clearly learnt his lesson, he began to claw at the knot round his neck but whoever had put him there had tied it pretty tight. He couldn't get it off.

And then finally, filled with desperation, it opened its mouth to sob piercingly. Great heart wrenching sobs, mixed with screams and cries for a mother that wasn't there. Igneel felt his old heart tug.

"Don't eat me!"

At that point, the Fire Dragon laughed. Loud and thunderous, it echoed right through the forest. Was the boy stupid or just really sheltered? Perhaps it was because the villages in these parts were too far from cities for news to reach. "I can't." He snorted, between breaths, surprised at how bitter-free his voice was, "I'm not allowed to."

The boy looked up, eyes wide. "You... you can talk!" His fear forgotten.

Igneel bristled. "Of course I can talk." Really, what were humans teaching their young these days? "You can talk and I talk too... you got a problem?"

"...Cool..." The boy's small mouth formed a large 'o'. "It can talk!" It muttered excitedly, "It can really talk!" After a pause, he added. "You're not going to eat me then?"

"No." The boy looked confused. "I'm not going to eat you."

The moment the words tumbled out of his mouth, the boy's muddy face burst into a beaming smile. "Phew! They told me that you was gonna get me and gobble me up." He gave the dragon a proud smile. "They were wrong!"

"They?"

The boy looked remorseful, a strange expression on a small child's face. "Mommy and Daddy... it's 'cos I spilled the bucket and the stuff inside got wet. They said I was going to get fed to the dragon god. I'm a bad boy." Tears welled up in his eyes and fat droplets began to roll down his cheeks. "I'm sorry!"

Another surge of pity greeted Igneel like an old friend. He didn't fight to resist it but lowered his head to the ground so that his eyes were almost level with the lowest branches of the trees. How small the boy was! Even standing up he only reached Igneel's left nostril – the smallest one. Reaching forwards, his claw bit through the rope. Almost instantly, the small pink haired boy shrugged the rope off and ran forwards to hug Igneel's face.

The dragon grunted in surprise at the impact and resisted the urge to swat him away, certain it would kill him. He allowed the boy to sob for a moment before politely telling him to stop slobbering over his nose. After all, it wouldn't do to have a dragon catch a cold from a human child… he didn't know if this was possible but he didn't want to have to be laughing stock to find out.

It was getting late and the sun was already casting long shadows.

Igneel stared at the boy blinking back at him. This human was a question that had never been posed before and he was being forced to pose it to himself. What to do with a human child?

He supposed he could just send him back to his parents but found himself strangely adverse to this action. If the parents had just left him there to die for the sake of some myth – A dragon god? He snorted. Where had that come from? – then perhaps it wasn't safe for him to go back there. And yet, Igneel knew that he could not look after the child himself. Perhaps Grandine could, but not him. He hardly knew where to begin with such a tiny trusting creature, let alone how to raise one. He was probably more likely to send the boy up in flames out of his own impatience than teach him anything decent.

Igneel made up his mind. Grandine would probably love of take care of him anyways. He was about to voice his thought when the boy grinned at him. "I'm Natsu, thank you for saving me Mister Dragon. Can we be friends?"

Nope. The boy was far too trusting. Asking a ten-story building high dragon to be friends? He'd barely make it one step out of this forest alone. Grandine was a member of the Elders and she would be far too busy travelling between the Dragon Realm and Earthland to care for Natsu. It was a given that he would end up wandering or something and wind up dead. Besides, it looked like Natsu – a strange name – liked him.

"Not Mister Dragon, Igneel."

"Igneel? Igneel... that's a funny name."


	4. Chapter 4

"Natsu!" A voice rumbled through the forest, "Don't go too far."

The toddler slid down Igneel's tail and immediately headed straight for the sparkling lake before them. "Drink." He stated. "M'thirsty." He stopped short of the water and dipped a tentative finger in. It was cold. The boy looked back uncertainly.

The great dragon behind him dipped its long neck a little and rested on its scaled forearms. Each five sided scale was about the size of the boy's face and a deep red in colour, which made its fierce yellow eyes stand out even more. "Don't drink too much."

Natsu beamed from ear to ear and gave a little cheer of delight. He stuck his head into the water and clenched his eyes shut, taking big gulps. The odd duo, a two year old human boy and a two millennium old ancient dragon, had travelled for many miles. With so many humans around, fearing such a large creature, Igneel was eager to move. They had chosed the country of Pengrande, a place so big that it was more of a wasteland of jungles, deserts and volcanoes with sparsely situated villages than a country. The only problem was that such a large safe haven was on the other side of the world and if they wanted to get there before the winter storms set in, travelling fast was necessary.

He surfaced, taking large gasps of air. "Igneel!" He squealed and ran back over. "There's fishies!" He tugged at one of his foster father's talons. "Let's eat'em!"

Igneel resisted the urge to laugh, knowing that he'd receive an angry pout in reply. Instead he blew a jet of warm air into Natsu's face, sending him stumbling backwards. The smell of smoke and ash lingered in the air. "You're hungry?"

As if in reply the boy's stomach growled. He nodded his head.

"Very well," The dragon stood to his full height, "You go and find some sticks and I'll get the fishies. Make sure the sticks are big..." He walked passed Natsu who only beamed brighter. "If they're too heavy, call me over."

Natsu giggled and ran off into the forest.

Igneel padded over to the water's edge, crouching as low as he could in order to avoid casting a shadow. Such a large creature hunting tiny fish. If he was hungry, usually all he had to do was make a spark on dry kindling, and voila! Food was served. But Natsu couldn't eat flames – Igneel knew this from experience. He would have to train before he could even attempt to try that stunt again.

A sudden ripple in the water caught his eye as a catfish's whiskers broke the surface of the water. Igneel didn't waste a second and shot out, stabbing the large fish before it could sink down to the water floor once more. He held it triumphantly in the air, its slippery grey body flailed on the hook of his talon. Throwing it on the ground behind him, he sat in wait for another one.

"Igneel!" A high pitch scream broke the water this time and Igneel shot up, thoughts of fish forgotten. "Igneel!" The large building sized creature did a sharp u-turn, it's eyes wide. He beat his wings and rose in the air, searching for the location of the source.

"Natsu!" He called back, anxious and panicky. Where was the boy? Surely he couldn't have gotten too far. He was such a fool! If only he had made Natsu wait for him. "Natsu, where are you?!"

"Here!" Came a small voice, "Igneel!" He screamed.

Igneel exploded into motion, shooting through the sky as quickly as he could. He could feel the rage and worry boiling with in him. Oh, if Natsu were hurt, Igneel would kill whoever caused it. Rip the guy into pieces and incinerate him and crush him and smash him against hundred of rocks and...oh god, if Natsu were hurt! "I'm coming!"

He sped towards a gap in the trees, pink hair visible on the forest floor. He dived between it, folding his wings in and landed, making a crater in the earth. The boy lay on his stomach on the rest floor. He wasn't moving. "Where is he? Who hurt you, Natsu?" He growled, afraid that there would be no response.

There was no movement. No...he couldn't be...

Natsu rolled over, "M'ok." He grinned toothily, "See?" He jumped up and did a star jump for good measure, patting himself up and down. "M'ok."

Igneel collapsed to the floor, demolishing lines of trees behind him, too relieved to be angry. "You scared me." He admitted finally.

The little boy crawled over to the dragon and hugged its head. "M'sowwy." He let go and turned, pointing. "But look what I found." Natsu got up and with great effort dragged the object over. It was a basket, similar to the one he had found Natsu in, only it was covered in coloured materials and rich looking fabrics where as his foster son had only a bare wicker basket. "It looks like me."

Igneel peered inside, shocked. It was true. There was a small human hatchling inside with tufts of yellow hair and brown eyes. It stared up at the two faces. The pink haired boy had a look of stupor on his face and comically, his large companion wore the same face too. It giggled.

Natsu staggered away, surprised, and Igneel, recovering, resisted the urge to laugh. Of course he would be surprised; he had never seen another human before. Hesitantly, the boy crawled back.

"What's that?" He asked, eyes wide.

"It's a human. A baby."

"Why does it look like me?"

Igneel chuckled. "You're human too."

"What are you then?"

"...A dragon."

Natsu frowned in concentration, his tongue sticking out. He scratched his head. And then, tentatively, he reached forwards and poked it gently in the cheek. "It's squishy."

"Is it?" Igneel smiled. That was his conclusion?

Another pause. "Can we eat Squishy?"


	5. Chapter 5

It was safe to say that Igneel did not particularly care for humans. They were small and weak and killed far too easily. They paled in comparison to new born hatchlings and were useless in a fight. And, due to some rule to keep peace between the two species, he wasn't allowed to eat them either.

His life had been mainly spent ignoring or avoiding the puny things so why he was now among yet another human hatchling - or 'baby' as Grandine called them - while she made it some weird paste was completely beyond him. His foster son, Natsu, was balanced on the ridge of his back, chubby arms round the new addition.

"Can we eat it?" The boy asked curiously prodding the blonde hatchling in the cheek.

Igneel did not reply. He was too deep in thought to register what Natsu had said. What was he going to do with it? Natsu was already quite a handful: wandering the moment he took his eyes off him, eating things that should stay on the ground and pestering for more lessons on magic. The boy was not even two yet, had barely grasped learning to become tolerant to the flames and already wanted to learn to 'B'weath da fire!'

Grandine shot both a disapproving glare, as if to say _'what are you teaching this child, Igneel?' _She shook her head, "No, you can't. That is cannibalism."

"Whaat?"

"Never mind." The white scaled dragon touched her forehead to the baby, head butting Natsu. A soft blue glow coloured the little one's skin before it return to a healthier tone than it was before. Awkwardly, she stabbed one of many sharp talons through a slab of bark with green paste mashed in a pile in the centre. "Feed her."

Natsu stuck one finger in the green gloop. "Her?" His hand hovered hesitantly around the small mouth he was supposed to be feeding.

"The baby is female."

Gathering courage, he pushed the finger past the tiny purse of lips but grimaced when it met the baby's tongue. "Yucky." He retracted quickly.

Annoyingly, Igneel had stumbled across both infants the same way. They had both been on the edge of his territory (by different towns but the same region, but that was besides the point) with similar pendants reading 'Ryuu' in a casket. The difference was that Natsu had been found in one that more or less resembled a bird's nest and the female baby had been found in a white, ornate basket with stacks of gold bars and exotic fruits.

And now he was in possession of another human.

"Lift them higher, I can't get her to eat."

Obediently, he hovered his tail a little higher. If Metallicana could see them the bastard would most certainly be laughing. After all, it wasn't everyday that one of the Great Dragons of Fiore listened 'obediently'. But that was only due to being on the receiving end of a scaly white tail. He now had two vicious bruises, battle scars. And to think no one believed him when he said she had anger issues. She really should change her name to Grenade.

"I wish I had one." Grandine murmured, a cushion of air lifting small heaps of green gunk into the baby's mouth. It made a face.

"What did you say?" Igneel asked suddenly, jerking his head round to look at her.

"...I wish I had one?"

"That's it, you can keep the kid!"

Silence filled the cavern. Grandine had a look of shock on her face. Keep this small baby? She looked down. It was certainly true that she was more equipped with looking after a baby than Igneel was. The little girl looked up at her with warm brown eyes. With her healing powers, the baby would never get sick or be in too much pain. Grandine's own eyes seemed to light up. She'd always wanted a dragon slayer of her own, it sounded strange to say so. The purpose of them was to kill dragons and yet, Metallicana and Igneel had always seemed to view their human counterparts as apprentices, or even sons.

"Igneel," She began, "I'd always put you down as some sort of arrogant fool but now... now I see that you're a kind-hearted, wonderful– "

"Kidding." Igneel laughed. Oh, payback was sweet. Those tail hits on his beige underside were really starting to hurt. "Are you kidding? Two dragon slayers? I didn't really want another one... but after thinking it through..." He stopped before erupting into earth tremor-ing chuckles. "Metallicana is going to be so jealous! One all, Metal-face! One all!"

"Get out."

"When he got his little side-kick, he was so up himself! The Great Metallicana has gained a Dragon Slayer. I'm sure you'll find one who wants you!" He mimicked, his huge voice echoing in the cave. "What were you saying?"

"GET OUT!"

Igneel blew a jet of flames into the pile of logs by the mouth of their cave. Natsu was leaning against his side, the new addition to their family in the boy's small arms.


	6. Chapter 6

This is a series of scribbles/one-shots mainly about the same thing. They're not connected to each other though.

Haha, well, these are my five fails at trying to start. Too many plot bunnies running around in my head and yet, I can't get them pinned down on paper…

Give me your worst! Which one do you like best?

x


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